Re: Maybe I need a better video card? Editing xorg.conf?
Hello,
On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 12:04:33PM -0400, Andrew wrote:
> Dear John,
>
> > I found that things work better after applying the Nvidia driver
> > install, which also prepares a minimal xorg.conf file. The executable
> > file is named:
> > NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.44.run
> >
> > But I didn't do this on Knoppix, only on Slackware 13.37.
>
> Thanks so much for the great idea! I see on their web site the latest
> version is now:
> NVIDIA-Linux-x86-275.28.run
> (and for 64-bit: NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-275.28.run)
>
> I'm not sure how to integrate this into Knoppix, however, and am concerned
> the modified xorg.conf might cause problems when booting on non-Nvidia
> machines. And it adds one more item to the list of things to maintain
> every time I upgrade to a new Knoppix version.
I have been using the official "non-free" Debian packages for installing
the proprietary NVidia modules in some magazine editions of Knoppix,
which are easier to handle than the script-based installation which
contains only precompiled modules for mostly old kernels and library
versions.
If I remember corectly, in the last version, installing the nvidia
packages with
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install -t unstable nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx nvidia-settings
was sufficient to get the proprietary nvidia drivers up and running. It
should work with a flash-installed DVD version of Knoppix, using the
overlay feature.
> I think it would be much simpler to buy a new Knoppix-friendly video card
> and let the autoconfig do its thing.
For "political" reasons, I usually return any hardware that does not run
well with free software to the vendor as a warranty case.
Most graphics chipsets built by Intel (with exception of GMA500) work
well with current versions of xorg/compiz and have low power
consumption. Most ATI/AMD Radeon cards also run well, with a few
exceptions. As a general rule, chances are best to have full
acceleration support with free drivers for cheaper graphics card models,
rather than cards which have computing power and power consumption
several times higher than the rest of the computer and require special
drivers under other operating systems as well.
I would just buy whatever is available in your nearest computer store,
and make sure that you can return it in case it does not work
out-of-the-box under Linux. The vendor has no right to demand you using
a certain operating system in order to get his hardware running, no
matter which is "recommended" on the box.
Regards
-Klaus
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